Humanitarian Relief for Afghanistan (WFWP Padova)
Written by: Elisabetta Nistri
WFWP Padova (Italy) helped raise funds to help people in Afghanistan at the end of December 2021. The chapter was able to successfully raise 2000 euros by the end of the fundraising campaign. They decided to donate the money to a journalist who was going to Afghanistan to see the situation for herself. The journalist’s desire was to report on the situation of women and children, as well as provide financial assistance as much as possible. The journalist Barbara Schiavulli wrote several articles and was also interviewed on Italian National TV, where she reported touching stories, thanking WFWP for giving their support.
The excerpt below was written by Ms. Schiavulli after her experience in Afghanistan.
Aziza is a 38-year-old woman abandoned by her husband, with five children and no possibility of working because the Taliban regime imposes that women cannot work. Her story is that of hundreds of thousands of Afghan women.
Her husband said five months ago that he was going to Pakistan to find work, and they never heard from him again. It was not a good marriage, she confides, he did not love her, and he did not love their children either. Now they don't know if he is alive or dead. In a broken voice, she murmurs: “There is an Afghan saying that a man's place is in the house or the grave.” While to us, it seems more like the fate of women.
No one has paid the rent since he left, so she has five months of unpaid rent (25 dollars a month) on her shoulders with a landlord who threatened to kick her out and a brother-in-law who would take little Ubna, only three years old, as compensation for a loan. “I will not let them take Ubna away from me, but I don't know how I will do it. I am waiting for my husband to come back.”
Aziza remains confined to a limbo in which the Taliban, her gender, and traditions leave her no choice. Zaed, eight years old, is listening and is moved, “I want to study and then go to work and not see my mother like this,” he says. “What do you want to be when you grow up,” we ask. “I will be a Taliban because they are strong, but with me, all the girls will be able to go to school,” he replies.
Thanks to WFWP Padova, we returned and settled the debt with the landlord, given two extra months and 20 dollars to get food. You can imagine the reaction of the children yourself. Upon notice of our arrival, the children showered as they do on special occasions. Aziza promised that the children would go back to school in March, and some neighbors asked her to wash some clothes in exchange for money. In this way, we were able to save the young Urbina from being taken by the brother-in-law that wanted to take her as payment.
It is just a drop in an endless sea of pain. But it is our drop. And maybe Aziza will be able to sleep tonight.
In another article Ms. Schiavulli wrote, she shares how WFWP’s donation was used to buy food and blankets for a poor family with 5 children. The father was a policeman, but under the new governance, he had lost his job. Two months ago, he found four children wandering by themselves on the street. He invited them to his home. It turns out, the mother of the 4 children, passed away after the Talibans took over the village and their father was a drug addict. They had an elder daughter who was kidnapped and was never heard from again. The policeman invited them to his home but he barely had enough to provide for his own family. Ms. Schiavulli was able to buy food and toys for this family with the funds donated by WFWP Padova.
The full link to the articles
